The Painted World
The Painted World is the 3rd episode of the second season and the 25th overall episode of Charmed. Summary Prue discovers someone trapped within a painting at the auction house and unwittingly repeats the spell hidden under the picture which casts her into another dimension with a man named Malcolm, who’s been stuck there for 70 years. Meanwhile, Piper asks their new neighbor for help renovating her new nightclub, and Phoebe secretly casts a Smart spell to help her compete for a new job. When Piper also gets stuck in the painting, Phoebe’s new smarts enable her to read and send with Kit the Latin spell to free them all – only to be tricked by Malcolm who is actually a warlock. He saves himself and then torches the painting. Although the smart spell is over, a cunning Phoebe tricks the warlock and his warlock lover into the painting with her. Piper freezes the warlocks within the painting while Prue, Piper, Phoebe and Kit escape back into the real world. The painting continues to burn with the warlocks trapped inside. Both the painting and the two warlocks trapped inside are destroyed. Plot Jane Franklin brings a painting of a Gothic castle into Prue's office. She inherited it a few months ago, but wants to sell the painting as quickly as possible. Phoebe has borrowed Prue's car and backed it into a pole. She asks Piper to try to cover for her, but Piper wants no part of it. Phoebe is applying for a job to raise the money to fix the damage. She reaches the company and finds herself surrounded by smart people. The receptionist hands her an aptitude test and offers to let her take it at home. Prue notices a light coming from the painting. She sees it's coming from a window. She grabs a magnifying class for a closer look, and sees a man dodging a fireball. Piper is grousing over the many code violations at P3 (which is not open yet). Phoebe can not find anything in the Book of Shadows about people trapped in paintings. Prue asks for her keys back, and Phoebe admits to backing Prue's car into a pole. She feels very stupid, but Prue is not nearly as angry as she expected. Piper goes to Dan with "the War and Peace of code violations." He offers to check out the violations in return for her helping Jenny with a paper on the human reproductive system; it's too awkward a subject for him to discuss with Jenny. Prue calls Jane back to her office, and tells her there's something strange about the painting. She already knows about the man inside it, and thinks the painting is somehow haunted. Prue asks if she knows who the man is. Jane has no idea, and claims that seeing him has driven everyone who has owned the painting insane. Phoebe copies a smart spell from the Book. Piper knocks while she is copying and tells Phoebe that the repair is $1200. When Piper leaves, Phoebe finishes copying and casts the spell, with a "P.S. There will be no personal gain." She takes a college dictionary and the pages flip under her hands. She recites the definitions of some obscure words.